Prize finished:blue ribbons

Hey, I'm from ProjectComment ! ^^

It's a fun idea, and I love the background concept. It works well with the character and the colors work well together. I love the dark strokes in the sky as it effectively pulls the character's lines into cohesiveness with the rest of the image.

Your composition works relatively well, but it could be stronger. Keep in mind the relations between the positive and negative spaces when you're plotting out the initial sketch. Looking at the relation of the girl to the edge of the paper (of the island in the left background), it is clear that there is little space between the two. Small amounts of space near edges causes a lot of visual tension to the composition, which can be used to the images advantage. However, as your image is currently set up, I don't think it's doing much for it. Your grasp of composition is decent, as you have some aspects of the illustration running out the most of the edges of the image. Maybe add a little to the island in the back to allow part of it to run out of the paper and bring greater balance to the overall setup.

It looks like you were going for more emphasis on the background rather than the figure, but next time you might try cropping more of her out. If you were trying to give the character equal attention (which I assume is more likely what you were going for since you took the time to give her a unique pose), try moving her more into the image than having her so close to the edge. Regardless of the emphasis you choose, keep in mind the silhouette of your character against the negative space. Simplify the shape, but make sure it's still identifiable as a sitting girl if you were to substitute it with a solid color. You can do also improve the silhouette by increasing the contrast between the foreground and the background, or the girl and the sky. You can still maintain visual interest, even if you were to lighten the darker aspects of the sky. You can even lighten directly behind the character in a play on light in order to separate her from blending in with the sky or water.

Another idea for future works, you might try next time is prepping the board or paper in advance by wetting both sides so it shrinks evenly. ^^ (I know it definitely works for illustration board, but you have to wait a while for it to dry.)

But all on all, very nice work. I'm sure whoever you made it for loved it. ^^